“You’re an idiot,” I tell him.
“He’s an idiot,” Killian counters, pointing in Seth’s vague direction.
“You’re all idiots!”
My idiots – yes, but still idiots.
Pax’s eyes heat into a long, slow glow. The corner of his mouth pulls deliciously into the kind of half-smile that literally takes my breath hostage.
Seth appears out of the branches, hanging upside down from one of the lower limbs.
“You’re welcome, by the way,” he says. “For bringing them to their knees without bloodshed.”
“Seth,” Pax booms.
His tone ricochets through the trees. I’m overcome by the sense that physically I’ve turned to stone – completely under Pax’s command. And just to test that idea I lift my hand and push back my hair. Not stone – though I feel like I should be.
“You are forbidden to take Shade into danger. Forbidden.”
The words bore into me, pulling my mind tight like an elastic band stretched to its limits, and he’s not even talking to me.
“Yes, boss,” Seth strangles the words out.
Pax exhales, and I feel my insides relax.
“What was that?” I whisper.
“That was Pax being excessive,” Jada says, sauntering into the group. She makes me jump, but the guys must have known she was approaching because none of them even turn to look at her.
“I thought you’d stopped giving Alpha orders to poor Seth, especially when what he just did was quite successful.” She flashes a smile in Seth’s direction before walking up to Killian and resting a hand on his arm. “Dangerous, entertaining, and successful.”
She doesn’t look at him, just rests her hand there, as she turns her almond eyes towards Pax.
My Pax, and her nasty fingers are on my Killian. Wrapping around his bicep like she owns him.
“I give orders when he’s likely to act like an idiot,” Pax rumbles. “He still walks at my back because his Chaos gets the better of us all.”
That’s why Seth is number Two.
Pax. Seth. Roarke. Killian.
One. Two. Three. Four.
“Us all?” I mumble, wanting to reach across and slap the woman’s hand off Killian. But I’m pretty good at multitasking, and I can be possessive and have realizations at the same time. Like realizing that what Rose said to me was almost exactly the same as what I had been thinking.
“Pax, you can’t take your orders out on him. That was my idea – all of it.” I raise my voice just enough to ensure his attention moves back to me.
“No, Vexy, my Seed listens to his orders,” Seth says from his upside down position. “This is a good idea.”
I ignore that because everything in me is being hit by the truth – that was my idea. I was sitting down there, my back resting against Seth’s back, running scenarios through my mind.
Jada’s attention is on Pax, but her damn hand is still on Killian. Killian doesn’t seem to care as he gives his broken knuckles a rough inspection. Seth and I look past the two of them and lock eyes.
He’s smiling way too mischievously, but I feel like someone kicked me in the chest and hollowed my insides out.
“Pax, Vexy looks genuinely distressed,” Seth says.
Pax lets out a long sigh, but it’s Jada who speaks. “When we were kids, Pax used to,” she hesitates, possibly because Pax is looking like this story will end in murder, “ah, make a mess of things. Chaos is maybe the only Seed that can absorb Pax’s level of… ah, reaction.”
“How?”
“The only thing that can exist in harmony with a Saber power when it is running out of control is Chaos.”
“But how?” I demand, because that really didn’t explain anything.
“Seth will always be one step ahead of Pax; it’s in his nature. If Pax’s reaction could annihilate the known world – Seth would be the only one to preempt it, or at least curb it.”
She’s saying it’s better that Seth take the brunt of Pax’s anger because Seth has the most resilience – and I don’t like it.
“Not always,” Seth calls.
“You mean he makes me react?” Pax rumbles.
Jada shrugs. “That too. Point is, he keeps everyone else alive.” Jada runs her hand up and down Killian’s arm.
She says more stuff, but I’m not really listening.
Not really breathing either. I’m struggling with a deep clawing desire to crash-tackle Jada away from a guy who isn’t technically mine. Who doesn’t even want to be mine.
Killian isn’t mine.
Much.
Killian belongs to Killian – but Jada can still get her hands off him.
Beautifully-manicured hands, like the woman arrived here in a royal carriage. The kind of hands I will happily pour a pot of boiling water over.
This has to be some weird leftover effect from Pax’s power? Or Rose’s power? Or maybe whatever happened with Seth’s power. Because plotting to actually hurt someone is not something I usually do.
Killian looks down at Jada’s grip as if she’s reached the limit of his patience.
Jada’s hand slips from his arm, and I let out a shaky breath. Which makes everyone else move their attention to me. My hands are shaking, so I stuff them into my pockets. Where I find the cool glass egg and roll it between my fingers.. Why does this woman get under my skin so hard? I can be rubbed the wrong way, but this is on a level a million times worse.
“Adrenaline and Saber power,” Jada says, nodding at me like she knows shit. “It was one of the things that caused the Mortal Wars to begin in the first place. Our two species cannot coexist. Mortal anatomy is just not up for the challenge.”
A fresh wave of not-being-able-to-breathe-properly rolls over me.
“What do we do?” Pax asks.
Jada shrugs. “Wait it out, I guess. In the meantime, you boys can get me up to speed on your deciphering of Aunt Raefiya’s secret letter. I’m assuming the mortal has given it to you by now? And it’s no small prophecy. I’m also assuming she can’t read.”
Oh, bralls no.
“The mortal needs
